Petition Calls For Resignation of Enfield School Board Chairman

ENFIELD, CT — A petition has begun circulating calling for the resignation of Enfield Board of Education chairman Walter Kruzel, citing his "long history of demonstrating a lack of engagement with other board members as well as the Enfield residents."

The petition, created by the political party Voices For Enfield through the online platform change.org, claims Kruzel "has publicly disregarded the importance for public communication and/or participation in Board of Education meetings and he is visibly out of touch with the needs of our students and families."

In the first hour following the petition's creation, more than 50 people had signed it online.

Since the onset of the coronavirus pandemic in mid-March, all Board of Education meetings have been held virtually, and each has been designated "special meetings." By town rules, members of the public are allowed to speak at "regular" meetings, but are prohibited from participating during "special" meetings.

Kruzel has adamantly proclaimed his desire to keep public communication out of the virtual meetings on several occasions. At an Aug. 10 meeting of the board's policy subcommittee, he responded to a request by committee chairman Chris Rutledge to allow public input by saying, "I am not for this policy at all. I think it's opening a can of worms that we're just going to have couch potatoes coming to our meetings in the future."

Upon his resignation following an Aug. 11 school board meeting, Rutledge expressed disappointment at the refusal of Kruzel and mayor Mike Ludwick to incorporate modern technology into the ever-changing landscape of town government.

"This pandemic provided our leaders the opportunity to lead with the use of this virtual meeting technology," he said. "Unfortunately they did not take advantage of that. This could be the new normal. Towns all across the area are adopting this - West Hartford, Somers, Suffield are allowing use of this technology. Enfield is in the minority."

At his first full meeting as chairman in Nov. 2017, Kruzel read a new policy stating "the chair, acting on behalf of the board, has the right to limit the overall length and time devoted to audience participation and/or length of time individuals may spend when addressing the board ... so we're going to do three minutes, one time only, and you will be timed." Previously, audience participants were allowed up to five minutes, and a second round of public communication was allotted near the end of each meeting.

Other complaints against Kruzel in recent months have included cutting off a crying parent of a bullied child in mid-sentence, yelling at constituents and, most recently, making a mockery of a serious vote by stating, "Since the nos have it, I'll vote yes."

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